Softball: Traip squeezes out win against rival York

The game had already been won and lost a couple times when Traip Academy senior shortstop Alli Barrett came to bat in the top of the seventh in what was a tie game on Thursday.

Mike Zhe

The game had already been won and lost a couple times when Traip Academy senior shortstop Alli Barrett came to bat in the top of the seventh in what was a tie game on Thursday.

A few seconds later, it wasn't.

Barrett capped her three-hit day with a smash to the gap in right-center, sliding into third base for a triple and scoring when an errant relay throw bounced out of play. After teammate Kaylie Andrews pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, the Class C Rangers got to celebrate an 8-7 win over Class B York.

"So, so amazing," said Barrett, who went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. "They're always good competition. It feels good."

The Rangers (3-4) bolted from their dugout after the final out. Andrews embraced her father, coach Chris Andrews, and the team — which has had some lean recent years but already matched its win total from 2013 — knows it can get to a watershed .500 mark with one more win.

In a game that had four ties and three lead changes among its twists and turns, the Rangers' power won out. Barrett and Bri Lamoureux both smacked gappers that went for two-run home runs in the top of the fifth, as their team flipped a 5-3 deficit into a 7-5 lead.

"If we had a fence," said York coach Mona Blais, "maybe they would have been doubles."

The loss dropped York to 0-9. It got two hits apiece from Hannah Brown, Kendall Carr, Sequoia Fister and Julia Harrod, but is still trying to get its first-year coach her first win.

"It's tough," said Blais. "They're battling through adversity and staying in it. (Wednesday) was a 3-2 loss (to Kennebunk). Today they're working hard but the wins aren't coming."

Down 2-0, the Wildcats tied the game on Harrod's two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the third. They went ahead 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth, with Fister's two-run double the big blow.

But they also left nine runners on base — all in scoring position — that kept them from building a lead late, instead of chasing a deficit.

"I feel bad for them," said Blais. "We have one or two letdown mistakes. " They're things we're going to learn with such a young team."

Steph Rundlett came on in relief of Lisa King for York and she was superb, striking out the first four batters she faced and giving up just one hit in 2 2/3 innings.

Unfortunately, the one hit she allowed was the game-decider by Barrett.

"I guess it was just my day," she said.

Traip's day, too.

"I just told the girls they could do it, they just needed to put their minds to it," said Chris Andrews. "They did it."

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